Roasted Vegetable Quinoa

July 25, 2013

Last week I picked up some insanely cheap fresh beetroot at my local market, (2 for 1,000). It’s insatiably good for your liver and my liver needs all the help it can get. Roasted beetroot is amazingly good just by itself, but I had some veg in the fridge that needed using so I decided to whip up this quinoa for my week day lunches. Tasty and healthy is always a winner for me. Switch up the veg depending on what you’ve got but be sure to keep in that beetroot.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa (iHerb)

2 cups of water

2 beetroots

1 aubergine

8 mushrooms

15 cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon of mixed herbs

2 tablespoons of freshly chopped herbs (I used cilantro)

A glug or two of olive oil

Directions

Rinse the quinoa in water then put in your saucepan with 2 cups of hot water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down once it is boiling and cook until all the water has evaporated and the quinoa is clear. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.

Chop and peel the beetroot and cut into chunks, top with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and bake at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile chop the cherry tomatoes in half, and the aubergine and mushrooms into bite sized pieces. After the beetroot had had 10 minutes alone, add the other vegetables to the pan along with the mixed herbs and a little extra olive oil, and cook for another 10 minutes. When the veg is nicely roasted stir into the quinoa, make sure to include all of those lovely juices. Chop the fresh herbs and sprinkle on top along with a squeeze of lemon. Voilà a lovely beetroot and quinoa salad. Serve hot or cold.